king, and published in Chaldee, might come to be generally known in the east; and the event soon afterwards evinced the truth of it.

It was from this prophecy, too, that the distinction first arose of the four great empires of the world, which hath been followed by most historians and chronologers in their distribution of times. These four empires, as they are the subject of this prophecy, are likewise the subject of the most celebrated pens both in former and in latter ages. The histories of these empires are the best writ, and the most read of any; they are the study of the learned, and the amusement of the polite; they are of use both in schools, and in senates; we learn them when we are young, and we forget them not when we are old; from hence examples, instructions, laws and politics are derived for all ages; and very little in comparison is known of other times or of other nations. Not but there have been empires as great or greater than some of these, as those of the Tartars for instance, and of the Saracens, and of the Turks; and you may think, perhaps, that they are as well deserving of a place in this succession of kingdoms, and were equally worthy to be made the objects of prophecy, being as eminent for the wisdom of their constitutions, the extent of their dominions, and the length of their duration. But these four empires had a particular relation to the church and people of God, who were subject to each of them in their turns. They were therefore particularly predicted; and we have in them, without the intermixture of others, a line of prophecy (as I may say) extending from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar to the full and complete establishment of the kingdom of the Messiah. He who is arbiter of kingdoms, and governor of the universe, can reveal as much of their future revolutions as he pleaseth : and he hath revealed enough to manifest his providence, and to confirm the truth of religion. What Daniel said upon the first discovery of these things, well may we say after the completion of so many particulars, (ver. 20, 21, 22:) "Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever; for wisdom and might are his. And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding. He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him."

XIV.-DANIEL'S VISION OF THE SAME.

WHAT was revealed unto Nebuchadnezzar in the second

year of his reign concerning the four great empires of the world, was again revealed unto Daniel, (chap. vii.) with some enlargements and additions, in the first year of Belshazzar, that is about eight and forty years afterwards. But there is this difference, that what was exhibited to Nebuchadnezzar in the form of a great image, was represented to Daniel in the shape of great wild beasts. The reason of which is ingeniously assigned by Grotius, and after him by Mr. Lowth, that this image appeared with a glorious lustre in the imagination of Nebuchadnezzar, whose mind was wholly taken up with admiration of worldly pomp and splendour; whereas the same monarchies were represented to Daniel under the shape of fierce and wild beasts, as being the great supporters of idolatry and tyranny in the world.'

1

Daniel dreamed, and the angel interpreted. "These great beasts, which are four, (says the angel, ver. 17,) are four kings," or kingdoms, as it is translated in the Vulgar Latin, and the Greek and Arabic versions, and as the angel himself explains it, (ver. 23,) "The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth." They arise out of a stormy and tempestuous sea, that is out of the wars and commotions of the world: and they are called great in comparison of other lesser states and kingdoms, as they are denominated beasts for their tyrannical and cruel oppressions and depredations. These beasts are indeed monstrous productions; a lion with eagle's wings, a bear with three ribs in the mouth of it, a leopard with four wings and four heads, and a beast with ten horns: but such emblems and hieroglyphics were usual among the eastern nations; a winged lion and such like fictitious animals may still be seen in the 2 ruins of Persepolis; horns are attributed to beasts, which naturally have none; and these figures were, as I may say, the arms and symbols of such and such nations, and are no stranger than several which are still used in modern heraldry. We will consider them in order, and take notice only of such interpretations as carry in them something probable and plausible, to the end that we may establish what is more certain. To recite all the various opinions of commentators would be but heaping up a monument of the absurdities of former ages. We may collect something from one, and something from another, and yet in all respects perfectly agree with none.

I. The first kingdom is represented by a beast, (ver. 4,) that

Lowth's Comment. on chapter ii. 31. Grotius ibid.

2 See Sir John Chardin and other tra vellers.

was "like a lion, and had eagle's wings: and I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it." This is the kingdom of the Babylonians: and the king of Babylon is in like manner compared to a lion by Jeremiah, (iv. 7,) "The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way;" and he is said to fly as an eagle, (xlviii. 40,) “Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread his wings over Moab ;" and he is also compared to an eagle by Ezekiel, (xvii. 3, 12,) "Thus saith the Lord God, A great eagle with great wings, &c." The lion is esteemed the king of beasts, and the eagle the king of birds: and therefore the kingdom of Babylon, which is described as the first and noblest kingdom, and was the kingdom then in being, is said to partake of the nature of both. Instead of a lion, the Vulgar Latin, and the Greek, and Arabic versions have a lioness; and it is Jerome's observation, that the kingdom of Babylon for its cruelty is compared not to a lion, but to a lioness, which naturalists say is the fiercer of the two.

3

5

The "eagle's wings" denote its swiftness and rapidity: and the conquests of Babylon were very rapid, that empire being advanced to the height within a few years by a single person, by the conduct and arms of Nebuchadnezzar. It is farther said, "The wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth," that is, it was taken away from the earth, as it is commonly understood, and as it is translated in almost all the 'ancient versions or it may be rendered thus, the wings thereof were plucked wherewith it was lifted up from the earth, as Grotius explains it, and as we read it in the margin of our Bibles, the conjunction copulative sometimes supplying the place of a relative. Its wings were beginning to be plucked at the time of the delivery of this prophecy; for at this time the Medes and Persians were encroaching upon it; Belshazzar, the king now reigning, was the last of his race; and in the seventeenth year of his reign, Babylon was taken, and the kingdom was transferred to the Medes and Persians.

6

"And it was made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it." It is not easy to say what is the precise meaning of this passage; unless it be an allusion to the case of Nebuchadnezzar, when in his madness, (iv. 6,) "a beast's heart

Regnum Babylonium propter sævitiam

et crudelitatem,-non leo, sed læana appellatur. Aiunt enim hi qui de bestiarum scripsere naturis leæenas esse ferociores, &c.' Hieron. Comment. in locum.

4 Et sublata est (inquit) de terra;" subverso videlicet impio [imperio] Chaldæorum.' Hieron. ibid. Kalpon and Tñs yh. Sept. "Videbam evulsas esse alas

ejus, et ab humo sublatam." Syriac. Et egressa est de terra." Arab.

"Et sublata est de terra." Verte: per quas efferebatur supra terram. Sæpe enim Chaldæis, ut et Hebræis, copula vim habet relativa.' Grot. in locum.

Joseph. Antiq. 1. 10, c. 11, § 4, p. 462. Usher, Prideaux, and other chronologers,

a

was given unto him," and after he was restored to his senses, man's heart was given to him" again. What appears most probable is, that after the Babylonian empire was subverted, the people became more humane and gentle their minds were humbled with their fortune; and they who vaunted as if they had been gods, now felt themselves to be but men. They were brought to such a sense as the Psalmist wisheth such persons to have, (Psal. ix. 20,) "Put them in fear, O Lord; that the nations may know themselves to be but men."

7

II. The second kingdom is represented, (ver. 5,) by "another beast like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh." This is the kingdom of the Medes and Persians and for their cruelty and greediness after blood they are compared to a bear, which is a most voracious and cruel animal. The very learned ' Bochart recounts several particulars, wherein the Persians resembled bears: but the chief likeness consisted in what I have mentioned: and this likeness was principally intended by the prophet, as I think we may infer from the words of the text itself: "Arise, devour much flesh." A bear, saith Aristotle, is an all-devouring animal: and so, saith Grotius, the Medo-Persians were great robbers and spoilers, according to Jeremiah, (li. 48, 56.)

8

"And it raised up itself on one side," or as it is in the margin, it raised up one dominion; for the Persians were subject to the Medes at the conquest of Babylon, but soon after raised up themselves above them. "And it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it :" these ' Jerome understands of the three kingdoms of the Babylonians, Medes, and Persians, which were reduced into one kingdom; and so likewise Vatablus and Grotius: but 'Sir Isaac Newton and Bishop Chandler with greater propriety explain them to signify the kingdoms of Babylon, Lydia, and Egypt, which were conquered by it, but were not properly parts and members of its body. They might be called ribs, as the conquest of them much strengthened the Persian empire; and they might be said to be between the teeth of the bear, as they were much grinded and oppressed by the Persians.

"And they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh :" this was said, as it was before observed, to denote the cruelty of the

⚫ Bocharti Hierozoic. pars prior, l. 3, c. 9, col. 816, &c.

་

• Ursus ζωον παμφαγον [animal omnia vorans] ait Aristoteles VIII. 5. Sic Medopersæ raptores magni, prædones, Jeremiæ LI. 48, 56. Grot. in locum.

Ergo tres ordines in ore regni Persarum, et in dentibus ejus, tria regna debemus

accipere, Babyloniorum, Meaorum, atque Persarum; quæ in unum redacta sunt regnum.' Hieron. Comment. in loc. Vatablus et Grot. in locum.

1 Sir Isaac Newton's Observations on Daniel, c. 4, p. 29. Bishop Chandler's Vindication, b. 1, c. 2, § 2, p. 198.

Medes and Persians. They are also represented very cruel by the prophet Isaiah, (xiii. 18:) "Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces, and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children." Cambysis, Ochus, and others of their princes were indeed more like bears than men. Instances of their cruelty abound in almost all the historians, who have written of their affairs from Herodotus down to Ammianus Marcellinus, who describes them proud, cruel, exercising the power of life and death over slaves and obscure plebeians. They pull off the skins, says he, from men alive, by pieces or all together and they have abominable laws, by which for one man's offence all the neighbourhood is destroyed. Well therefore might a learned French commentator say, that the Persians have exercised the most severe and the most cruel dominion that we know of. The punishments used among them beget horror in those who read of them.

III. The third kingdom is represented, (ver. 6,) by "another beast like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it." This is the kingdom of the Macedonians or Grecians, who under the command of Alexander the Great overcame the Persians, and reigned next after thom: and it is fitly compared to a leopard upon several accounts. The leopard is remarkable for swiftness; "their horses, (saith the prophet Habakkuk, i. 8,) are swifter than the leopards:" and Alexander and the Macedonians were amazingly swift and rapid in their conquests. The leopard is a spotted animal: and so was a proper emblem, according to Bochart, of the different manners of the nations which Alexander commanded; or, according to 5 Grotius, of the various manners of Alexander himself, who was sometimes merciful, and sometimes cruel; sometimes temperate, and sometimes drunken; sometimes abstemious, and sometimes incontinent. The leopard, as Bochart observes, is of small stature, but of great courage, so as not to be afraid to engage with the lion and the largest beasts; and so Alexander,

4

2 Superbi, crudeles, vitæ necisque potestatem in servos et plebeios vindicantes obscuros. Cutes vivis hominibus detrahunt particulatim vel solidas. - Leges apud eos abominandæ - per quas ob noxam unius omnis propinquitas perit.' Amm. Marcell. 1. 23, c. 6.

3 Les Perses ont exercé la domination la plus sevére, et la plus cruelle que l'on connoisse. Les supplices nsitez parmi eux font horreur à ceux qui les lisent.' Calmet in Dan.

Maculas pardi referunt gentium, quibus imperavit, diversi mores.' Bochart. Hierozoic. pars prior, 1. 3, c. 7, col. 789

6

Pardus varium animal. Sic Alexander moribus variis; modo clemens, modo crudelis; modo victus temperati, modo ebriosus; modo abstinens, modo indulgens amoribus.' Grot. in locum.

Ut pardus statura parvus est, sed animo et robore maxime præstans, ita ut cum leone et procerissimis quibusque feris congredi non vereatur: sic Alexander pene regulus, et cum exiguo apparatu, regem regum aggredi ausus est, id est, Darium, cujus regnum a mari Agro usque ad Indos extendebatur.' Bochart. Hieroz. pars prior, 1. 3, c. 7, col. 789.